Coronavirus in Spain: Day 30, 39,673 cases

Analysis: Will Catalonia explain why that region jumped nearly 2,000 cases in one day yesterday?

1. Let's go. Some readers express disbelief about the lack of Coronavirus data from Spain's Health Ministry on the weekend of the feminist marches. We saw it then: no update between Friday at 6 p.m. until Monday, March 9 almost at lunchtime. Look at the pdfs and statistics…
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 9:55 am | On Twitter

2. Look at the Coronavirus Excel worksheet for Spain in March: since the notification of the first death on March 4, there has been a pdf with numbers of dead and intensive care patients every day—except the weekend of March 7 and 8 (highlighted in blue in this image).
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 9:59 am | On Twitter

4. That weekend, the question was whether there was no data because of the regional chaos and because of the weekend but with the perspective of the rest of the month, the gap is obviously visible.
https://twitter.com/matthewbennett/status/1236235523187933185
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 10:13 am | On Twitter

5. I see on TVE that after the Mayor of Alcalá del Valle (Cádiz) yesterday sounded the alarm in the media because of the Coronavirus situation in his village, suddenly a lot of ambulances and Civil Guard have turned up. Facts, communication, response. Well done, Mr. Mayor.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 10:24 am | On Twitter

6. Look at this new article on the CDC site yesterday: in a study of Coronavirus cruise ships, there was a 17.9% asymptomatic transmission rate and the virus survived on surfaces (fomites) for up to 17 days. https://bit.ly/3afJQvp
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 10:39 am | On Twitter

7. Spain continues to have the steepest Coronavirus death curve in the world, according to the Financial Times chart. The number of dead here is doubling every other day.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:09 am | On Twitter

8. The FT has also added a chart by region, not by country: Madrid is world leader in Coronavirus death rates, worse than Lombardy, worse than Wuhan. https://www.ft.com/coronavirus-latest
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:12 am | On Twitter

9. Some readers suggest the Coronavirus Health Ministry pdfs from the weekend after the feminist marches are also missing. The are there but they changed the file names a bit. Here:
- 14/3—Update 44—https://bit.ly/2xkWACi
- 15/3—Update 45—https://bit.ly/2Ue7qmz
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:21 am | On Twitter

14. Why do the Deputy Directors of Operations of Spain's National Police and the Civil Guard make comments every day on gender violence in the middle of the Coronavirus press conference? (And not on murder, theft, corruption or X).
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 12:18 pm | On Twitter

17. AMYTS wants an immediate Coronavirus injunction to protect healthcare workers: "to perform their work in minimal safety conditions and not get infected by patients or increase the risk they suffer, and prevent the spread of the disease". https://bit.ly/2UdFOOs
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 1:08 pm | On Twitter

18. Have spoken with regional health ministry in Catalonia: jump in nearly 2,000 new cases of Coronavirus there is "normal progression of the epidemiological curve". They say that in +7,800 cases, no big outbreaks apart from Igualada. No data by Catalan province or town, city.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 2:08 pm | On Twitter

19. Table with the progression of the main Coronavirus magnitudes in Spain: dead, ICU, active but non-ICU and cured. The daily increments and the 5-day rolling averages.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 2:48 pm | On Twitter

21. Montero says the Spanish cabinet has approved the terms of the first tranche of Coronavirus guarantees for business loans: 20 billion euros.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:21 pm | On Twitter

22. Illa announces he is ordering medical supplies from the other Spanish regions to Madrid due to the urgency of the Coronavirus situation in the capital. He calls it "solidarity". We shall see how the regional governments react.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:25 pm | On Twitter

23. Illa says he has no more data on the Coronavirus situation in Spanish nursing homes. People should call the regional governments.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:29 pm | On Twitter

24. Montero says SMEs and self-employed will be able to delay taxes (including income tax and VAT) for six months, but only the first three months at zero interest rate. So that is a more or less normal postponement option, then.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:35 pm | On Twitter

25. Illa again denies the Spanish government had made it more difficult to procure urgent medical supplies from China.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:47 pm | On Twitter

26. Montero says the government still does not know the result of Deputy PM Carmen Calvo's Coronavirus test. Fernando Simón confirmed the other day, speaking of his own fast-track test, that there are more urgent tests for the people in charge.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 3:50 pm | On Twitter

30. The Speaker of Congress, Batet, announces 306 Spanish MPs have asked to vote from home for tomorrow's session on the extension of the Coronavirus state of alarm. The debate will begin at 3 p.m.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 6:37 pm | On Twitter

31. Asturias announces 6,850 temporary lay-off requests have been made there due to the Coronavirus crisis. They have processed 1,036, affecting more than 3,500 jobs. 86% are force majeure, for two weeks. The rest, economic causes, three months.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 6:41 pm | On Twitter

33. Part of a letter from a hospital in Valencia ordering doctors and nurses not to share information about the state of the Coronavirus situation even among themselves on WhatsApp. Again managers cite data protection law.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 6:52 pm | On Twitter

34. Warnings to doctors about WhatsApps are not only about talking to the media but also to their family and friends about the real Coronavirus situation in Spain. This happens when governments fail to publish detailed transparent information about an emergency that causes panic.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 7:06 pm | On Twitter

35. I've been trying to get more information about the Coronavirus situation in Spain out of the health ministries for 4 weeks. People, locked down in their homes, with a possible mortal danger outside, want to know where the clusters are and what's going on, and that is normal.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 7:09 pm | On Twitter

36. Am told healthcare workers in Valencia are not very happy with their regional health minister and are proposing a pot banging protest in their WhatsApps groups.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 8:17 pm | On Twitter

41. Again today, more new Coronavirus cases have been recorded in Spain than on any previous day, and this, remember, are only the reported and confirmed cases (and not counting the 2,073 new cases in Catalonia).
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 10:53 pm | On Twitter

42. A note on the graph: we are now talking about trying to understand the evolution of tens of thousands of confirmed cases in Spain. It's not like at the start when we tracked dozens or hundreds of cases. I will put the new Catalan cases in tomorrow, to keep the comparison.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 10:59 pm | On Twitter

43. Remember that these are the declared, official, notified, confirmed figures for each Spanish region and the national Health Ministry. Even Fernando Simón admits we are 4-5 days behind reality; according to the periods outlined in the WHO report, it might even be 7-10 days.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:01 pm | On Twitter

44. One thing is the infection itself, then the first symptoms, then the first call to the doctor, then maybe go to a hospital, then wait for the test, do the test, wait for the results of the test, the hospital notifies authorities and, at some point, that data is made public.
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:04 pm | On Twitter

45. It is quite possible tomorrow that Spain will overtake China in Coronavirus deaths. Also tomorrow, some MPs will debate the extension of the state of alarm. What will the mood be like among the parties? Will there be tension and anger or loyalty and support for the govt.?
Published: Mar 24, 2020, 11:17 pm | On Twitter

Guarantee independent journalism

Your support guarantees the future of independent journalism.
Every reader counts and it all adds up, whether you choose $5 or $10 or $25 each month.
You invest directly in better reporting and more detailed analysis—in English and in Spanish—of the most important stories affecting Spain. The truth about how Spain is changing.

Get original, detailed, independent reporting and analysis of the stories changing Spain. Full-text articles delivered right to your inbox, in English. You can also choose to get them in Spanish. No ads, no spam. Just readers.

What is The Spain Report?

Independent reporting and analysis of the most important stories changing the country,
written by Matthew Bennett, a British journalist who has been living and working in Spain for most of the past 20 years.
Read more